IDA funding for Mechanicville project

The developer behind a nearly $42 million mixed-use facility near the Hudson River in Mechanicville will receive 20 years of tax exemptions and abatements for the project under a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program approved by the Mechanicville-Stillwater Industrial Development Agency this week.

The IDA voted 6 to 1 Thursday in favor of using taxpayer money to help finance The Esplanade, a 335,000-square-foot commercial and residential facility proposed by William McNeary IV’s Empire Warehousing Corp. The $41.4 million project consists of 225 apartments and 36,730 square feet of commercial space. It would be built on 10 acres in Mechanicville and 1 acre in Stillwater at North Main Street and routes 4 & 32.

Under the IDA’s approved plan, McNeary would pay $25,000 to the city, city school district, Saratoga County and Stillwater for the first five years of The Esplanade. PILOT payments based on the project’s size would start in the sixth year and increase by a dime per square-foot each year until year 20. McNeary would pay 50 cents per square-foot, or $162,858 in taxes, in the sixth year, according to the agreement. That would increase to $1.90 per square-foot, or $618,860, during the 20th and final year of the program.

The deal also calls for McNeary to make a $310,500 payment to the IDA, which would then transfer $125,000 of the money over five years to the city school district to offset costs related to the PILOT program.

McNeary, the owner of Logistics One, a warehousing development company in Saratoga Springs, had said that the project would not be built without IDA money to offset some of the high costs of building.

Supporters of The Esplanade say that it will transform the Mechanicville area, and provide homes for workers from the GlobalFoundries plant being built less than five miles away. A financial impact study commissioned by Logistics One said that the project would generate an estimated $5.7 million in new revenues for the school district, city, county and town of Stillwater.

“I was elated with the vote,” Mayor Anthony Sylvester said Friday. “We’re moving to revitalize the city with this.”

The Esplanade was designed by Cotler Architecture of Latham. It has passed the city’s and town’s planning boards and environmental reviews. It’s unclear when building would start. Neither McNeary nor IDA members could be reached for comment.

8 Responses

225 apartments and 36,730 square feet of commercial space on that tiny strip along the river between 4 and the river are you joking me???

“to the city, city school district, Saratoga County and Stillwater for the first five years.” What does that mean $6000 to the city for the first five years.Come on Sylvester what part of the city are you revitalizing for 6 grand. Yet the IDA gets 310,000 and squeezes out 25 grand a year to the school district. What happens to the rest of the IDA kick back $310,000-$125,000= $185,000 So the school gets squeezed 125 grand and the IDA keeps 185 grand .What a deal.

“We’re moving to revitalize the city with this.” Are you joking me. This one project of which the city gets paid crap will revitalize Mechanicville. How much has the local housing market rebounded by the so called Global buyers. Nothing compared to the anticipated windfall the carpetbaggers though they had coming.All around us we have seen towns and neighborhoods making moves to capitalize on the coming of the great messiah GlobalFoundries,phony or not, but not Mechanicville. Nothing except a rail yard transfer fiasco on a super fund site that nobody wants and the road infrastructure cannot and will not handle.The pending disaster this transfer yard will create is monumental and now you add this much traffic to that intersection.
Mechanicville cannot revitalize my old socks and the condition of our city proves it.You have given away the store so the IDA can sell our city residents out and shove another one of their projects down our throat.The IDA gave away 3 billion of NY Tax money to GlobalFoundries while GlobalFoundires conspires to give away the Global jobs promised to NY taxpayers to out of state workers.
What ever happened to the days when a developer who wants to line his pockets with profit paid the cost of building to reap those rewards. Now the IDA gives away money that is not theirs Cheating schools and city out of much needed tax dollars all to kiss the butt of some developer. Tell me.Will McNeary share the profits of the project with the City and Schools for the first 5 years of the project to make up for the money he is cheating the schools and City out of. If the IDA wants to finance some developers project let them pay for it out of their pockets instead of cheating us out of much needed revenue. Maybe if they had to pay for their own fantasy’s they would not be so quick give away the store. Who gave the IDA the authorization to forgo school and city tax dollars. Mr. McNeary. if you want to build in Mechanicville pay your way and take you friends at the IDA out to another brunch. This project will do nothing to benefit the citizens of Mechanicville to justify the kickbacks to the developer. How about selling the existing EMPTY housing we already have before you build more. Ill bet old Neil Golub is joyous over the vote and we can now expect to be raked over the coals for increased prices that are already exuberant and beyond the reach of Local residents. Isnt greed grand.

Dorrough, you don’t get it. Without the incentive the schools, city county etc reap nothing at all from this parcel but what little is paid now. It’s not as if it goes forward without it. You can’t have your cake and eat it too on this one.

“McNeary, the owner of Logistics One, a warehousing development company in Saratoga Springs, had said that the project would not be built without IDA money to offset some of the high costs of building. . . . A financial impact study commissioned by Logistics One said that the project would generate an estimated $5.7 million in new revenues for the school district, city, county and town of Stillwater.”
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I would NEVER trust an impact study paid for by the entity that has a vested interest in its positive outcome!

I am sorry but people like McNeary see huge dollar signs to come riding on the GlobalFoundires gravy train. He is going to build this project with or without the 20 years worth of freebies he has coned the IDA to give him. If the IDA gave them nothing and he was forced to pay full tax rates from the start as he should to line his pockets he would still build the project.The Globalfoundires gravy train these carpetbaggers are hot for is to alluring.Greed is a powerful force. This developer and other developers like him are not going to walk away from the potential profit. If they can con the IDA out of 20 years worth of kickbacks all the better.Dont tell me I dont get it because I dont agree with you. If this developer cant afford to build the site without hand outs let him be forced to sell and the next carpetbagger who will build without the kickbacks will step up and go forward with the project.There is no need for the IDA to screw the schools and the City out of tax dollars to entice developers to this area. Globalfoundires has them lined up 10 deep.

The fact that City of Mechanicville would not pay for its own Impact Study should tell the community alot. The fact that we are proceeding with this project without the city having done this, is a complete and utter diservice to the taxpayers and the school district. The study that was done is obviously EXTREMELY BIASED!
And yet we are proceeding…..scary.

Another project using taxpayer money. To all those who support this- let’s use the cities and IDA money to improve our homes, because we are only a few short miles away from the chip-fab plant- the properties will increase in value- we will give you back the increased tax value in about 20 years! Oh, I forgot, we have lived here a long time and put up with alot of crappy infrastructure, bad city credit ratings, a school being built but couldnt afford sports the first years, ect., because we have the SAME OLD PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN HERE AND ELECTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE GREW UP, NEVER LEFT AND WILL DIE IN THE SAME TOWN!!!- but look at what these same officials do when money is thrown in their face-so much for home town friends!